NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Barely a week ago, David McGraw was cooking daily for hundreds of fine diners at one of New Orleans’ illustrious restaurants. Today he's cooking for himself at home — laid off along with hundreds of thousands of people across the country in a massive economic upheaval spurred by efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
U.S. Department of Labor figures to be released Thursday are expected to shatter the old record for the greatest number of new unemployment claims filed in a single week. There are more suddenly jobless Americans than during the Great Recession — and more than in the aftermath of major natural disasters such as hurricanes, fires and floods.
But McGraw and others like him don't need official numbers to understand the new realities of life in one of the nation's hot spots for the virus that causes the Covid-19 disease.
"The whole city (is) laid off. Everybody," said McGraw, using an exaggeration that didn't seem like much of one. "Everybody who worked at a restaurant is laid off."
Restaurants, hotels, airlines, automakers and entertainment venues all have been hit hard as cities, states and entire countries have ordered the closure of nonessential businesses and directed residents to remain at home.
Virus precautions have affected the worldwide economy. Companies in Europe are laying off workers at the fastest pace since the global financial crisis in 2009, according to surveys of business managers.
Official labor statistics for Europe are not yet out, but companies have been announcing tens of thousands of job cuts, permanent and temporary. The rise in joblessness may not be as sharp as in the United States, however, because it is harder to fire workers in Europe, where many governments are supporting companies financially to keep workers on partially paid leave.
Some economists project that the United States could see around 3 million new unemployment insurance claims when figures are released for the week of March 15-21. That would be around 12 times as many as the previous week.
"It's going to be an astronomical increase," said Constance Hunter, president of the National Association for Business Economists and chief economist at the accounting firm KPMG. "We don't have any recorded history of anything like this."
In Labor Department records dating to 1967, the largest seasonally adjusted one-week number of new unemployment insurance claims was 695,000 in October 1982, when the national unemployment rate was around 10%.
Before coronavirus concerns escalated this month, the U.S. unemployment rate had been at a 50-year-low of 3.5%. That is certain to rise as the number of laid-off workers soars.
In Louisiana alone, 71,000 people filed new unemployment applications last week, compared to the usual 1,400 or 1,500 people per week, said state Labor Secretary Ava Dejoie.
Louisiana has one of the highest per capita counts of coronavirus cases in the nation. Gov. John Bel Edwards has ordered nonessential businesses to close, limited restaurants to takeout and delivery, banned gatherings of more than 10 people and directed residents to remain at home.
New Orleans restaurant owner and caterer Keisha Henry said she lost $10,000 in revenue last week after three big functions she was to cater canceled. She still has expenses from launching a bar and lounge six months ago, and had to lay off several employees.